Cartographers

The son of a bookseller and publisher who had worked with Jodocus Hondius Sr., Jan Jansson Jr. (1588 -1664), married Jodocus’ daughter Elisabeth in 1612. In direct competition with the Blaeu’s, he and his brother-in-law Henry re-issued the Mercator-Hondius Atlas beginning in 1633. They redrew or replaced many of the maps in the original atlas. After the death of Henry, Jansson continued the business and expanded the Atlas into the Atlas Novus. This work was highly regarded but overshadowed by the Blaeu family works.

Jansson also issued a revised reprint of Braun and Hogenberg’s Civitates Orbis Terrarum, retaining many of the existing plates, but also adding a number of new ones. Other atlases that he published include Andreas Cellarius’ celestial atlas and George Hornius’ classical atlas.

Working in Paris in the second half of the eighteenth century, Jean Janvier (1746 – 1776) produced a series of maps in the later half of the century. While there is some confusion about his Christian name, his maps usually were inscribed “Le Sieur Janvier”. He is best known for his collaboration with engraver Jean Lattre for an Atlas Moderne first released in 1762 and in several later editions some by C. F. Delamarche and by Chez Remondini. He also produced several maps used in general atlases by William Fadan and P. Santini.